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NBA Finals: Heat running on fumes, but title scent still there

By Ira WindermanSun Sentinel

Posted:
06/17/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:
06/17/2013 07:28:10 AM CDT

Miami guard Dwyane Wade, from left, with forwards LeBron James, Udonis Haslem, and Mike Miller watch during the fourth quarter of Game 5 in the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The Spurs won 114-104, leading the best-of-seven series 3-2. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, David Santiago)

SAN ANTONIO -- Sometimes you forget how long it's been.

The preseason trip to China. The midseason pressure to pursue the NBA's all-time winning streak. The bruising and grinding against the Chicago Bulls in the second round and against the Indiana Pacers in the third.

And then Dwyane Wade comes up short on a breakaway layup in Sunday night's third quarter and LeBron James follows with his own similar miss moments later.

No, none of it is an excuse for Sunday's 114-104 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

It's what Michael and Magic and Larry had to do. It's what Jordan did over and over and over again. It's what Tim Duncan is trying to do for the fifth time after five years away from these NBA Finals.

It's hard. And now, with this Heat team, one built on a foundation of a Big Three but with an infrastructure still capable of cracking, comes the ultimate test:

Win two in a row for the first time in nearly a month or make Pat Riley's summer far more intense than expected.

It's hard to get here. It's harder to get through here. Even with the final two games of these Finals at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The exhaustion isn't going away. Now it's about pushing past, trying to achieve a destiny that merely requires a two-game home winning streak, pushing hard enough Tuesday to force the Thursday Game 7 that no one wins on the road in the Finals.

Two years ago, the Heat also returned home down 3-2 in the Finals.

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They never got to a Game 7 in that series against the Mavericks.

"So," Wade said, "we're going to see if we're a better ballclub and if we're better prepared for this moment."

"He said it," James said while sitting alongside at the postgame podium. "We're going to see if we're a better team than we were our first year together."

It's still there for the taking. After Beijing and Shanghai. After the 27-game winning streak and the Game 7 against the Pacers. And after this largely forgettable week in San Antonio.

"We just didn't show the mental resolve that we needed," coach Erik Spoelstra said of failing to hold off one of many Sunday surges by the Spurs.

At times over these past two weeks, LeBron has been sublime. But there also have been increasing minutes of subpar. He's exhausted. He's still in the fight, but when there are nights such as Sunday, when there is a Big Three and little else beyond Ray Allen, it can wear on you.

And, still, LeBron pushed. And Wade pushed. And during one second-quarter timeout, Chris Bosh let his teammates hear it. Every one of them. Even the other Big Two: Move the ball. Play as a team.

There were moments when the Heat did just that, when they cut that 17-point deficit to nine by halftime, to one in the third quarter before Danny Green hit the fifth of his six 3-pointers, now more Ray Allen than even Ray Allen.

It was a struggle. There was nothing South Beach about this, even though there next must be nothing but South Beach flavor to these Finals, with the Spurs up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. The Heat's first two-game losing streak since Jan. 10 would mean their last losing streak of the season.

"Our focus now, which is what we wanted to do in this game and we were a far cry from it, is to focus on playing our best game," Spoelstra said. "Can we put together our best game on both sides of the floor in Game 6? We do feel good that we're going home for that game."

It started as a be-careful-what-you-wish-for night for Spoelstra. With the Spurs taking his Game 4 switch to Mike Miller and doubling down by opening with Ginobili in place of Tiago Splitter.

Ginobili hit a jumper on his first attempt and kept going from there, putting aside the slump he couldn't shake while playing off the bench.

For the Heat? Just frustration.

Over and over, it was LeBron slamming the scorers' table, Wade slapping his hands in disgust, Bosh emoting.

And time and time again, it was Wade and LeBron coming up short inches from the rim, Heat defenders being spun like tops.

"They just absolutely outplayed us," Spoelstra said. "At times, they were just picking one guy out at a time and going mano y mano. That will change."

As Riley has said over and over, the Heat were built for championships. And only championships.

One of Riley's pet phrases is to play with "every last breath." Now the Heat must do that twice. On Tuesday to survive. On Thursday to finally possibly exhale.

It's about two games. Two victories. Or a summer that might seem even longer than this season.

"The most important game is Game 6," LeBron said. "We can't worry about a Game 7. We have to worry about Game 6 and going back home, being confident about our game, being confident about getting a win, which we are. So it is what it is.

"We got an opportunity to do something special. And we look forward to it."